After the attack, everything was fine
by crestoflight3
Summary: A collection of one-shots between Tsuyu and her classmates, dealing with the emotional responses of growing up and trying to become heroes. Chapter 1: After the attack at the USJ, everything went back to normal. Everything was fine. Except the man with the hands had touched her. If Aizawa hadn't looked up when he did, she would have been…she would be… No. She was fine.


_Everything was fine._

"Today we're doing one-on-one combat practice." Aizawa was talking. Of course. This was school; they were at one of the many practice areas on UA's campus. All her classmates were there. No one had been hurt except for Midoriya, and even he hadn't been anything Recovery Girl couldn't handle. Everything was fine.

Except Thirteen had been severely injured, even if she was better now.

"Your partners have been randomly selected."

And Aizawa still had bandages covering his face, from where the villains had pounded it into the cement.

"You have ten minutes to incapacitate the other. With the Sports Festival approaching, I expect to see finesse, not just power moves."

And he still had giant casts covering his arms.

"First up: Midoriya and Hagakure. Everyone else, pay attention. And Midoriya, don't use your quirk if you can't control it."

He nodded; from behind Tsuyu, Toru gave a sigh of blatant relief. "Let's do this!" A part of Tsuyu's mind, the part that was trying to pay attention through the blur that had enveloped her shortly after the other heroes had arrived that day, thought it was a good pairing; without his quirk, Midoriya could only do normal combat, and although he was strong, he would have trouble observing Hagakure if she took off her gloves. She would have the advantage, but only just. Tsuyu raised a finger to her chin – and then started and put it down.

Everything was fine.

"Wonder who'll get Bakugo?" Sero stage-whispered. It was a valid point.

Ashido groaned. "Don't remind me that that's an option."

"Shut up, extras," the boy in question growled. "I'm taking whoever it is down quick."

"Be quiet and pay attention," Aizawa intoned.

The fight was turning out how Tsuyu had imagined. Hagakure, skilled enough in physical combat and, of course, invisible, had managed to hit a few blows on Midoriya. He hadn't been able to reciprocate yet, although the occasional sound of feet scrambling back made it obvious he was getting close. Beside Tsuyu, Mineta was furiously drooling.

"Lucky bastard. He gets to spar with a naked girl. This is basically porn."

Ojiro looked disgusted. "That's sick."

"Come on, you're know you're jealous too. Just imagine it…"

"I said be quiet."

Normally, Tsuyu liked to keep a handle on Mineta. Today, she didn't feel like it.

But everything was fine.

The battle ended with a clear victory to Hagakure, who, with her gloves back on, was making cheering gestures. Midoriya had hit her twice during the ten minutes, but, as Aizawa explained, that wasn't a great performance on his part.

Next was Tokoyami and Koda (Kaminari: "I wonder if he can control him because he's, like, part bird?"); Sato and Ojiro (Midoriya: "They're pretty evenly matched, but it'll probably come down to who's faster"); Sero and Iida (Uraraka: "You've got this, Iida!"); and Ashido and Bakugo (Ashido: "Crap").

Then: "Asui and Kirishima."

Tsuyu moved forward robotically. They hadn't had physical combat practice against one another since the USJ. This was good. This was normal.

Across from her, Kirishima smiled. "My skin can get pretty sharp, so be careful with your tongue."

Tsuyu nodded.

"Begin."

Tsuyu moved automatically, jumping toward the far wall. Kirishima, his quirk activated, chased in pursuit. After a few minutes of cat-and-mouse had elapsed, she grabbed onto a wall and started her offensive. Her tongue reached out and wrapped around him; with a quick flex, she lashed Kirishima away, but he dug his feet into the ground and grabbed it back.

Pulled from the wall and balance momentarily lost, she quickly whipped her tongue into her mouth. By the time she managed to stand up again, Kirishima was there, fist outstretched in front of her face.

Everything was fine.

Except _he _had touched her face.

_She couldn't move she couldn't see all she could see was a hand_

Something sharp hit her nose and she fell to the ground.

"Asui! I'm so sorry, I thought you were going to move, are you okay?"

"Call me Tsu," she said on reflex. It was just Kirishima. It wasn't the man with the hands, it was her classmate who was kneeling next to her in concern.

"Dammit, that wasn't manly. I turned off my quirk as soon as I felt the impact but that was still pretty hard. Did I break it?"

"Break…it?"

"Your nose."

Tsuyu was suddenly aware of a sharp warmth and wetness coming from her face. She gingerly lifted a hand and touched her nose, a quick, cursory tap before immediately lowering her hand. "I don't think so."

"Asui." Aizawa. She found herself staring at the casts. "Go see Recovery Girl."

"I'm fine."

"Asui, you're bleeding pretty heavily."

Oh.

"I'll go with," Kirishima stated.

"I'm fine."

"You might have a concussion," Aizawa said bluntly. "Kirishima, get going. Next up, Yaoyorozu and Uraraka."

As they passed the new sparring partners, Yaoyoroku produced a handkerchief from her arm. "Here, use this."

Tsuyu stared at it.

"Tsu?" Uraraka asked worriedly.

Tsuyu took the handkerchief. She held it just in front of her face.

Not touching.

If she touched her face it might have happened and even if she remembered differently she didn't want to know and…

The walk to Recovery Girl's office was silent. She knew Kirishima probably wanted to speak – he was one of the many extroverts in Class 1-A – but he didn't, and for that, she was grateful. She didn't want to think; her mind was a blessed blank.

Just outside of the office, he finally cracked.

"Are you…are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"What happened back there? You're normally really good at dodging."

"Spaced out. I'm sorry."

And with that she went into the nurse's office and shut the door quickly behind her.

The rest of the day passed in a slow blur. For a few minutes, time seemed to drone on and on; then a period would leap by without her acknowledging what anyone said. She was tired – Recovery Girl said she'd had a small fracture, nothing serious, but repairing anything on the face tended to wear one out a bit more than most places – and she just wanted to be home, watching her siblings play, watching the world become normal again.

She jumped when the bell signaled the end of the school day.

"Asui, stay behind."

Aizawa. She blinked. He was going to rebuke her for what happened during training; it was a rookie mistake, and she knew what he would say. As the rest of the class filed out, chatting animatedly, she slowly packed up her bag.

When everyone had left – saying "Bye, Asui!" and "See ya tomorrow!" to no reply – her teacher sighed. Moving around so he was in front of his desk, he leaned back and sat on it.

"You're not okay."

"I am." It was a honed response at this point.

"If I've observed anything about you so far, it's that you're not a liar."

She wasn't. She was fine. She knew that. She had to know that.

"Asui, I know what happened earlier."

Of course. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's a hard life, being a hero."

She didn't respond. Aizawa sighed again and unsuccessfully tried to run a hand through his hair. "What I'm saying is, it's okay to be afraid. You can talk to me, if you want. Or to any teacher here. We've all been through it."

She blinked. "I…I'm sorry."

He growled; it would have been humorous if she wasn't staring at the bandages on his face. "I don't know why you're apologizing. And I can't read minds, so tell me what you're thinking."

He was right; she wasn't a liar.

"I can't protect myself," she whispered. "If I can't even do that, why…how will I protect others?"

There.

Now he would understand, as if he didn't already. She wasn't a hero. She had no right to become a hero. She thought about the worry on Kirishima's face, the handkerchief Yaoyorozu had to produce before her own fight, the concern from Uraraka. She thought about Mineta still battling the villains through his fear and how Midoriya had darted in to get _him _away from her and how strong All Might had looked fighting the Nomu and how Aizawa must have stared at the man touching her face even though he was covered in blood…

She thought about the hand on her face.

"Stop."

She stopped.

"You're allowed to be afraid. If you weren't, you'd be an idiotic form of reckless and I wouldn't let you stay in my class."

"So Bakugo." It escaped from her before she could stop herself.

Her teacher chuckled. "I guarantee that even he would be scared if he had gotten that close to dying." He blinked and shook his head. "The first time a villain almost killed me, I couldn't sleep for two weeks."

"I don't think you get enough sleep anyway, sir." She hadn't talked this much in a while; it…she blinked. She still felt blurry, but she also felt a bit of a clarity.

"The first villain I ever faced as a student had a mutant quirk, Rhinoceros. He had broken into a jewelry store. I tried to corner him; he tried to gouge out my stomach. If the pro hero I had been interning with hadn't arrived at the last second, I wouldn't be here." He grimaced. "I didn't get better overnight. It didn't get better after those weeks, either. But eventually I made a decision: I didn't want someone else to have to experience those two weeks like I had. Or to not be able to experience any two weeks again."

"Sir?"

"Asui, you're smart. You know what villains are capable of. You know how a victim feels. That's what will make you a great hero someday. But until then, you're my student, and I want to see you become that sort of hero. I know you can't until you can focus in class again and can dodge a blatantly obvious attack." He stood up. "So how are you feeling?"

Tsuyu blinked back a few tears, and then she didn't, because she couldn't.

"I'm not fine."

Aizawa nodded. "That's what I thought. But," and he reached over and handed her a handkerchief, and even if she couldn't put it to her face yet she smiled a quivering smile, "you will be."

A/N: Long time no see, FFN. This is, hopefully, the first in a series of interactions between Tsuyu and other members of UA, most dealing with what it means to be growing up and trying to become a hero. This one's probably the most serious and was the inspiration for this collection.

Story crossposted on AO3 with the

Thanks!


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